Green Lobby Group to Ontario Citizens: …… “if you cancel the FIT program we will sue your ass off”?

Nice! The Canadian Wind Energy Association (CANWEA) is all things “wind turbine” to all the Politicians and Investors who have been sucking hard earned tax dollars from Ontario Citizens with their Green Energy Scam called Industrial Wind Turbine Development. They have over 400 members who meet regularly to scour the contracts they have signed with uninformed and ignorant land owners who are sold a “bill of goods” that tells them they will be super rich from giving their land over to these “righteous, save the world Greenies” who will generate clean green electricity and will replace that dirty old coal plant that is killing tens of thousands of Ontarians every year!

Now after the PC’s tried to bring a little sanity to an otherwise insane rush to the destruction of Rural Ontario by trying to introduce a Bill in Parliament (and was defeated by the NDP and Liberals) for a “moratorium” on future development so that Health and Land issues can be discussed in a rational forum before any more harm can be done, CANWEA issues a “press release” that attempts to reiterate their “over optimistic view” of the Wind Agenda. One veiled threat within this “release” is that IF the lucrative (to investors only) payouts are threatened by the ending of the FIT (Feed in Tariff) program then there will be massive lawsuits to Ontario for contract violations!

Nice! The stated claims of new job creation and zero increases to Electricity bills is yet to materialize and is actually the opposite of their claims!

The day after MPP Tim Hudak, Leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party introduced a private Members Bill in the Ontario Legislature that would, end the feed-in tariff (FIT) program and restore Local Decision Making to Ontario Communities CanWEA issued a press releasecondemning the proposed Bill.

The CanWEA release, against the “Bill” cites the usual about; jobs, future environmental regulations, wind energy being affordable, billions in investments, local development and the co-operative spirit that CanWEA display in working with municipalities. It’s all meant to convince the readers that industrial wind turbines will drive the province to prosperity, create high paying jobs and build a “world-class manufacturing capability.”

If one takes the time to absorb the release however the concern about cancelling signed contracts infers their sanctity would create an exposure to Ontario having to pay damages to investors. This appears to be a veiled threat that the 400 plus members of CanWEA will sue the province if contracts are cancelled. The release doesn’t speak to the sanctity of rural Ontarians and their right to the sanctity of enjoyment of their property, nor the sanctity of rural municipalities to enact the will of the people.
Much is said about attracting “investors to Ontario from around the world,” which is a definitive admission that the FIT program has been overpriced from the start, particularly now that most countries have reduced subsidies considerably over the past several years as wind generation has turned out to be a waste that requires full and expensive fossil fuel backup, negating “environmental” claims the electricity produced from these industrial wind turbines is “clean”.

On the jobs issue the release speaks to; “Hundreds of much-needed jobs are being created in places like Windsor, Tillsonburg and Niagara, and thousands more are being created in construction and local services.” This is an admission that the Liberals have been lumping construction jobs in with the 20,000 permanent jobs that they have claimed the GEA has been responsible for creating. The cost of creating those “hundreds of much-needed jobs” will result in a cost to the ratepayers of billions of dollars as those “investors to Ontario from around the world” will be repatriating ratepayer dollars to their head offices.

The other claim made in the press release is that the “FIT program has not played any significant role in increasing electricity prices in Ontario to date,” This flies in the face of the Auditor Generals report citing the lack of cost/benefit analysis in respect to both FIT and MicroFIT programs. Numerous other reports have also cited the costs to Ontario’s ratepayers. The latest was on March 11, 2012 as documented in a recent article on the Wind Concerns Ontario website. On that day substantial wind production cost ratepayers $3.8 million and created a negative average hourly Ontario energy price (HOEP) of $20.89 per MWh meaning Ontario ratepayers paid $135.00 + $20.89 for each MWh wind turbines delivered to the grid when not needed to meet demand.

CanWEA also cite a report from Pembina which co-incidentally was the former employer of Robert Hornung. Mr. Hornung is the current President of CanWEA and one must assume carries a bias into his current job. CanWEA do not cite any reports that dispute their claim nor have they ever made a effort to discount or question the Auditor Generals report. CanWEA also cite another favourable report prepared by ClearSky Advisors who in their “disclaimer” in the report have this statement; “ClearSky Advisors is an independent research firm that does and seeks to do business with all stakeholders within the industries covered in ClearSky Advisors research.” This appears to be another biased report that CanWEA trot out whenever they wish to dispute facts that are not favourable to their continued push to have the generous subsidies continue in support of their members.

As one would expect the issue of health effects, bird and bat kills, reduced property values and the other effects of industrializing rural Ontario are ignored in an effort to suppress any possibility of a Legislative change to the FIT program.

CanWEA wants the generous subsidies to continue, the right to erect these monstrosities wherever they want and the right to reward out of province wind development companies despite their costs to Ontarians.

Hopefully the efforts by MPP Tim Hudak to bring some sanity to the electricity sector in Ontario will be supported by MPP Andrea Horvath and the NDP as a sensible solution for the betterment of the Province’s ratepayers and taxpayers.

It is time to stop the wind-bagging by CanWEA!

Parker Gallant,
March 12, 2012

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I thought contracts had exit clauses?
Two I’m aware of are “termination with cause” and “termination for convenience”. The latter would require some sort of settlement agreement. However, I’m curious if this government has any “cause”?
That’s where we need whistle blowers.

If I was at the OPA rubber stamping the applications, instead I’d be sending them to the nearest Iron Mountain bin.

If Bentley and / or the OPA don’t bite back on this, that in itself will be very telling.

If push comes to shove, I say sue away CanWEA! I’d rather live in a bankrupt province with 2000 wind turbines, than a bankrupt province with 20,000.